A chair makeover you won’t believe!

You will not believe the before and after of this chair makeover.  I didn’t believe the before and after of this chair makeover and I did (some of) the work!

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You’re not going to believe this transformation.

I didn’t believe in this transformation.  In fact, when my friend Dayna brought me this chair, I actually tried to talk her out of having work done on it.

I think you can see why:

I believe this chair was a curb-find, and I’m going to guess crazy-old, given that the seat appears to have been woven with twine.  Underneath each arm is a small carving that says “Henry IV” – and while I don’t think this chair was actually Henry the 4th’s, it certainly speaks to an era that appreciated that type of furniture.

Just look at the nail holes and rusted upholstery tacks!  I truly didn’t believe this chair could handle too much more abuse to the wood.

I pulled out as many as I could – again, believing that the structure of the wood was compromised – but wanting to try to help my friend.

Then came the wood filler.

Lots and LOTS of wood filler.

There were hundreds of holes in this antique chair, so I just slathered it on like paint; front, back, sides, everywhere.

I sanded that coat smooth and then re-applied a second coating of wood filler to try to level out any recesses.

I gave the entire chair a good sanding with 120 grit then 220 grit sandpaper and washed the entire thing down with Rust-Oleum Krud Kutter to remove any residual dirt and grime that the sander could get to.

I really is a beautiful chair, but you couldn’t see it for all of the damage and dirt it had accumulated… or at least I couldn’t see it.

Dayna did.

Because the wood was really old, it was imperative that I go over-kill on the primer on this chair makeover to ensure that the tannins didn’t bleed through over time.  Three coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Plus Spray Primer with a light sanding at 320 grit in between coats (with a  few more holes to fill) and the chair was ready for paint.

I did use my HomeRight Super Finish Max Paint Sprayer and Homeright Medium Spray Shelter Paint Booth for this job, so as to get into every nook and cranny and to eliminate any brush strokes.

Dayna chose Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore and I used their Advance formula paint because it hardens as it cures.  It’s my favourite for furniture makeovers because it is as close to an oil-paint hardness (once it’s cured) as you can get without actually using an oil paint.  This chair makeover is going to last for years.

You can see there is still a lot of wood damage where all of the nails had torn out wood, but Dayna still had faith this chair makeover was going to be phenomenal.

She was right.

The final step of the chair makeover was to have it professionally re-upholstered (WAY out of my league).  Dayna chose this gorgeous fabric and the piping along the edges hid all of the wood damage!

This is truly unbelievable!

Did you see this chair makeover coming?

I certainly didn’t – but the transformation is spectacular!

This has got to be one of the most dramatic furniture makeovers I’ve done on 100Things2Do – and I am gob-smacked at how it turned out.

Dayna, you truly have an ‘eye’.

Have a great one!

 

 

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